Kylun wrote:For 3E, did they ever stat the Kami, or describe what they look like?

Or is it one of those things where Kami are just "there" and never meant to actually be encountered?

I think it was always intended that there is no such thing as "the kami of $sphere_of_influence". Unlike western concepts of pantheism, the Kara-Tur setting assumed numerous kami, each responsible for a very localised and/or specialised concept. As such, character who rely on the kami for their spells would typically call upon dozens of them to aid them in memorising their spells, often different kami for the same spell as they travel cross-country.

In the setting, it makes no sense to try to "defeat" them, since a mere mortal can't ascend to kami-hood in the same way that a character in certain quasi-European settings might aspire to godhood. And destroying one kami would not meaningfully affect the spells that a caster living there might be able to acquire, since the kami are so common. If you were to try, or even succeed, all you'd really achieve at a campaign level is to make all kami angry at you.

That said, the following Oriental Adventures critters can be used to stat out a kami where needed:

nature spiritshirokinukatsukamispirit centipededoc cu'o'clung dragons

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